Positive Test: ZAAngel's WriteOff
by AprilMayJune624
Summary: Time has been wasted in arguments the last few months. Troy has been neglecting Gabriella, but she needs him. Will Troy be able to see that?


_Disclaimer: I do not own HSM_

A/N: Well, this version is actually really, really different from the first one. I personally like this one a little better. But that's for you to decide.

_Positive Tests_

* * *

Troy sat looking down at the note in his hand. No more than one hour ago, she had been sitting in their apartment. No more than one hour ago, he had left her and gone to his team dinner. No more than one hour ago, she had packed her stuff and left.

_One hour before_

_Gabriella sat on the couch waiting for Troy to come home. She had something to tell him, but she didn't know how he would take it. The tests had come out positive. She had known for a week, but he had been too busy to hear her out. Tonight was his first night off, and she was going to tell him._

_To be truthful, she was scared. Oh, she couldn't tell you how scared she was. She was scared of how he would react to the news. But most of all, she was scared for them. For their future together. These tests would change their lives._

_One year ago today, was their wedding anniversary. They had been advised to wait until after college, but Troy had decided that he couldn't wait for two more years. He had asked her to marry him and within five months, they were husband and wife. And Gabriella's happily ever after had begun._

_She looked at the clock and noticed that he was two hours late. Well, that wasn't such a big surprise to her. He had been coming home late for the past few months. It was always something along the lines of, "Practice ran really late" or "The guys wanted to celebrate the win." _

_With the way she was feeling right now, he might as well have said to her, "I'm too busy for you" or "My team is more important than our marriage." _

_When he had announced that his coach was going to help him prep for the NBA scouts that were coming at the end of the season, she had been happy for him. Ecstatic. Sure he had told her that his schedule would be hectic, but hey, at the time, it really didn't matter._

_Not even a week after he had told her, she was already seeing just how busy his schedule really was. If it wasn't practice, it was a game. If it wasn't an away game, it was a team dinner._

_In a matter of days, Troy's top priority had changed from the love of his life to the love of the game. He had replaced her with conferences, practices, and a stupid rubber ball._

_They fought more and more. Since his announcement, he's had to miss his mother's birthday, one of his best friend's wedding, Thanksgiving, and if he didn't come home soon, their anniversary._

_She wasn't in a flirty dress or dressed up at all. She was in grey sweats and a blue tank top. Her hair was tied up into a ponytail. She didn't want to dress up, because she knew that it would be like this. A waste of time. He'd forgotten everything before, why should he remember her now? Oh, that's right, because she's his wife. But apparently, that just wasn't good enough anymore. So much for her happily ever after._

_She broke out of her trance when she heard the front door open, and his bag hit the floor. She could see him from where she was sitting, but she knew that he didn't know she was there._

_He hung his letterman jacket and took off his shoes. He turned around and walked towards their bedroom. He still hadn't seen her._

"_Practice ran late again?" She asked. He turned to the voice and for the first time noticed that she was sitting there._

_She looked as best as she could through the dark, but from the way he was dressed, she could see that either he had been working out at the gym, or he had been practicing with his team. He was dressed in dark blue or black shorts and a white tank top. _

"_Yeah." He said shortly. "What are you doing in the dark?"_

_She ignored his question and continued. "So did you think I was asleep or were you too tired to stay up and talk to me?"_

"_I have to get ready. The team's having another dinner." He explained to her._

_She turned on the lamp next to her and stood up. "Another one, Troy? How many stupid team dinners do you have to go to?"_

_In the light, she noticed just how amazing he looked. His body was still glistened with sweat. His hair was shorter, she noticed, than when she had seen him for five minutes last night. It was still long; it went past his ears, but it wasn't as long as the last time she had seen it. The barber got to see him more than she did. His dark blue eyes were really noticeable. If she wasn't so angry at him, she would've thought that he was amazing. But her rage clouded everything else._

"_Stupid team dinners?! These dinners are going to help me get into the NBA, and will therefore provide for our family." He retorted._

"_It can't be a family if you're not there to share it." She argued back._

"_We're still going to be a family whether I'm here or not. I don't understand why you're being so difficult. Everyone else understands except for you! Why can't you be supportive of me?!"_

"_Everyone else understands?! You're mental if you think that your dad understands why you missed your mom's birthday and made her cry! Do you think that Ryan and Kelsi understand why you missed their wedding?! Do you think that I—"_

_He cut her off. "I have to get ready." He told her._

_She threw a pillow at his head. "You don't deserve the second chances that everyone gives you! I've watched you morph into this person, this…thing that I don't know anymore!"_

_He turned around when she hit him. "Well, let me tell you, I'm feeling the best I've ever felt in a long time. I'm on top of the world here!"_

"_Do you here yourself?! You're sounding like a spoilt, egotistical brat! If your dad heard you say that, he'd kick your sorry butt!"_

"_Well, if your dad were here, I don't think he'd be too approving of you either." He said coolly._

_She stopped at his words. Never in their arguments had he ever brought her deceased father into their arguments. Her eyes widened and filled with tears. He suddenly realized what he said._

"_Gabriella, I—"_

_She walked silently past him and went into their bedroom, closed the door, and locked it. Troy stood rooted on the spot for a moment. He rubbed his eyes and silently cursed himself for saying what he said. He had never done anything like that._

_He walked towards the bedroom and was about to knock but then he heard her sobbing. He grabbed his keys and went out to the car. He'd just have to go to the dinner as was. When she settled down, they would talk, but not when his team was counting on him to make an appearance._

* * *

_Through her sobs, Gabriella heard him leave. He'd never done such a thing when they argued. They usually just kept it to them. But Gabriella had had enough that night. He had taken it too far when he had decided to miss their anniversary._

_Gabriella got up from the bed and went to the closet to grab a suitcase. She realized that she had never gotten to tell him about the tests. Something in her realized that they would've been arguing too much for her to tell him. She never would've gotten to it._

_She stuffed all she could into the suitcase and quickly got out a pen and paper. She wrote out the best explanation she could give and hope that he would come to his senses and come for her, eventually._

_She left the note on the bed where she hoped he would notice her absence and left._

* * *

_Twenty minutes later, Troy got to the restaurant and located his team. He pulled out his chair angrily and took a seat. He ordered his drink from the waiter and grabbed some of the bread._

"_Jeez, Bolton. Ever heard of the word shower?" One of his teammates asked him._

"_Shut up, Mitch. My wife locked me out of our room so that I couldn't take a shower." He argued._

"_And how is the Mrs.?" Another one of his teammates asked._

"_Don't ask." Troy answered._

"_Why even bother asking anyways? We all know that Bolton here doesn't have a life. From the way coach has been pushing you, I'm surprised that you aren't still on the courts right now." He told him._

"_Yeah. Can't argue with that." Troy said. He looked around at his teammates and smiled._

_The smile was a fake. It was a masquerade to hide his pain and confusion he had felt mere minutes before when he had heard Gabriella's sobs knowing that he had been the one to initiate them._

_He decided right then and there that when he got home, Gabriella and he were going to work this whole mess out. He had apparently neglected her more than he thought he had, and now it was up to him to make it right with her._

_This argument had really opened up his eyes to see that his marriage was going through a rough patch. A really rough patch. He needed to make it right with her. He needed to tell her that he loved her and that he was sorry._

_Now that he thought about it, he couldn't remember the last time he had said "I love you" to his wife. He couldn't remember the last time he kissed her or hugged her._

_Most of the time, he would get home late into the night so that she was usually asleep. He would climb into bed beside her and fall asleep too tired to do anything but lay there. And when she wasn't asleep, they were arguing._

_If he couldn't remember the last time he kissed her or said "I love you" or did anything for her that a husband should do, he was really in some deep trouble. As soon as he got home, he would march straight into the bedroom and apologize to her. He didn't care if she was asleep, he was going to apologize._

"_So are you guys ready for the game next week?" Troy asked his team._

"_Yeah's" and "Duh's" could be heard throughout the table, but one answer to his question stopped everyone._

"_Mitch, why aren't you ready?" Troy asked him a little skeptical._

"_Can't go to the game, guys. Sorry. That day's my wife and my anniversary. Can't miss that." He explained to them._

"_But coach was just about to start you." Troy argued._

"_So? I can start later. I only get one anniversary a year. Only one wife to share it with." He told them._

_Some of the guys snickered at his opinion of women. Some called him whipped. But Troy saw the way Mitch smiled when he was talking about his wife. He was proud that he was missing the game for his…anniversary._

"_Crap. Holy crap! Oh my gosh!!!!!!!" Troy stood up._

"_Dude, what's wrong?" Mitch asked._

"_Guys, I can't be here right now. Today's my anniversary, and Gabriella—oh crap."_

"_Ooooo, you're in trouble."_

_Troy ran out of the restaurant and got to his car. He had even more apologizing to do than he thought. How could he have been so stupid? He was a jerk, an unbelievable jerk, who didn't deserve his wife. He was surprised that she hadn't left him yet with the way he had been acting._

_When he opened the door to their apartment, something didn't feel right._

"_Gabriella?" He called out._

_He heard no answer. He walked over to the bedroom hoping, praying that she would be asleep on their bed. That his instinct was wrong and that she was right there._

_He opened the door and almost fell to the floor. Where she should have been she wasn't. Instead a note was on her pillow._

_He slowly walked over to the bed and sat down while he picked up the note._

_Troy,_

_I'm sorry that I wasn't there when you got home. I just had to leave. I couldn't stay any longer. I had to go somewhere where someone could take care of me. I'm so sorry. I hope that maybe someday you'll become, once more, the man that I fell in love with in high school. Don't worry about where I'm going. Just know that I'm going home. I love you so much. Never doubt that._

_All my love,_

_Gabriella_

* * *

Present time

Troy read the note carefully. It couldn't be. She was in their apartment somewhere. In two seconds, she would jump out and say "Gotcha! Happy anniversary!"

But she never did. The room stayed as quiet as when he came in. Now look how important his career was. Now how important was his team dinner? It was worth nothing. If he could go back in time, he'd knock some sense into himself.

But he couldn't let this happen. He had to get her back and apologize for everything he had put her through.

He turned his attention back to the note. She had never said where she was going. The only thing that he had a clue to was either his parents or Taylor. She was either going to Connecticut or Albuquerque. But she had said 'home'. There was only one place they both considered home and that would be Albuquerque.

With more resolve than he had had in a long time, Troy got off the bed and ran to his truck. He pushed his truck as far as it could go without breaking down and drove to the airport.

* * *

Gabriella got her bag from the cab and walked over to a seat and sat for a moment. She'd spiked a fever in the car and needed to have a seat for a moment. She pulled her knees to her chest and tried not to think about how Troy would feel when he entered the apartment.

"He'd probably be happy." A voice said in her head. "You're not there to hold him back from his future."

A moment later, another, more reasonable voice said, "But this has happened before, and he figured it out for himself. _After _you weren't there. You scared him into remembering who he was. He'll figure it out when he gets home. When you land, you'll have twenty missed calls and twenty-five text messages from him asking where you are. Don't worry."

"I can only hope." Gabriella murmered. With that, Gabriella went into the security line and presented the security guard with her ticket to Albuquerque.

* * *

Troy reached the airport and parked his truck outside.

"Sir, if you park there, it will be towed!"

Troy didn't pay attention. He ran over to the counter and inquired about the the flight to Albuquerque.

"I'm sorry, Sir. That flight took off about half an hour ago."

Troy's heart sank. He fished for his wallet and looked at what he had. Thankfully, he had gone to the bank earlier that evening and deposited his paycheck from work for the month.

"One coach flight to Albuquerque, please. Do you take Master Card?"

* * *

Maria opened the door and was surprised to see her daughter on her doorsteps. "Mija, what-?"

Gabriella had tears in her eyes. "Mama, can I come inside?"

* * *

Troy had called Chad before he had gotten onto the plane and asked him to pick him up from the airport in four hours. Chad had been bewildered, but agreed with the promise that Troy would fully explain once Chad picked him up.

True to his word, as soon as Troy got into Chad's car, he explained why he had flew to Albuquerque last minute and why he was chasing Gabriella. Chad had driven him to Maria's house, told Troy good luck with a shake of his head, and drove away.

Troy contemplated knocking on the front door first, but noticed that the lights were all off. It wasn't a surprise considering it was about 3 o'clock in the morning.

He went into the backyard and looked up at the familiar tree. He shook his head at himself thinking about how ironic it was that he had used this tree for romantic occasions and now was using it for another purpose.

He climbed the branches as if they were his own home. He'd always had an affinity for trees. He hopped over the railing and looked into the room. A bedside lamp was dimmed. He saw Gabriella's figure on the bed. She had her kneels curled up to her chest and was rocking herself back and forth. Guilt washed over him like waves. He'd done this to her. He suddenly wondered if she had taken up the same position of vulnerability and sorrow in the past times he'd hurt her. He'd never actually seen her going through the hurt save those few days in high school when they'd met when he ran into her by chance. And even then, she wore a mask to hide most of her initial hurt.

Troy walked over to the cushioned chair that overlooked the backyard and lifted up the cushion where the key to her balcony doors was. He used it to open her balcony doors slowly.

Gabriella looked over startled. "Shhhh." Troy urged. "It's me."

"Troy, what-" He strode over to the bed, sat down, and engulfed her into his arms. Her tears started automatically once more. Troy soothed her by rubbing the small of her back. He situated her onto his lap and held her.

"I'm sorry." He murmured into her hair; his own tears threatened to fall. "I'm sorry." He choked out. "Gabriella?" She pulled away for a moment to look at him. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I'm sorry for these past few months, for those arguments, for our anniversary."

Gabriella nodded. "I know." She managed to get out between gasps of breath from her sobs. "I-I for-give you."

Troy nodded, wiped away her tears, and kissed her forehead before crushing her to him once more. "I love you" were the last words that were spoken that night as they both gradually fell asleep.

* * *

Troy woke up the next morning with Gabriella next to him. His arm was draped over her waist and held her close to him. She was facing him; her breath was a little wheezy. Probably from last night, he decided. He heard commotion downstairs and concluded that Maria was awake. He carefully retracted his arm from Gabriella and climbed out of bed.

He wandered downstairs and saw Maria making coffee.

She spoke before he was able to. "I checked on both of you this morning. Imagine my surprise last night when my daughter turns up unexpected on my doorstep with tears in her eyes asking if she could stay for the night saying that her husband and she had a fight apparently too terrible to stay in Palo Alto for. If you weren't a model son-in-law, I would've jumped to many, _many _conclusions about what was so terrible that my daughter couldn't stay in her own home one more night and went up there to knock some sense into you myself."

Troy stood there silent waiting for her to stop talking. Great. It was bad enough that he'd seen Gabriella in that state last night, but hearing her mom talk about it with such a bitter tone was almost as bad as when he'd found the apartment empty.

"I know." He simply said. "I was being a retard, and I don't deserve her at all, but..." He trailed off.

Maria's face softened as she watched him mentally berate himself for his actions. She rescued him. "Well, considering Gabriella was quite all right with you sleeping next to her in the bed last night, I suppose I can forgive you." He looked up at her, surprised, and she smiled at him. Understanding was written in her eyes.

Before they could move on from the uncomfortable conversation, they heard a thud from upstairs. Troy didn't know how to explain it, but he bolted upstairs with the uneasy feeling he had. In a blur, he saw Gabriella on the floor and then was suddenly being held back by nurses as his wife was admitted into the ER.

* * *

Troy sat in the waiting room half an hour later and looked up at the sound of his name. Maria stood up with him as the doctor approached them both.

"Mr. Bolton, Ms. Montez, Mrs. Bolton is in stable condition. She had a high fever probably from going somewhere with a very high risk to her immune system."

"She was at an airport early this morning." Maria explained.

Troy's heart sank as she said that. He'd been the reason she'd gone to the airport this morning. Could this have been prevented had he been a good husband?

"Well, we've gotten her records from her most recent appointments at the hospital in Palo Alto." His grip tightened on the charts. "I'm not sure if Mrs. Bolton told you, but-"

"Mr. Bolton." A nurse said interrupting what the doctor had to say. Troy turned to her. "Mrs. Bolton would like to see you immediately."

"Can't this wait?" The doctor asked.

"I'm afraid she insists."

Troy looked at Maria. "Go ahead, Troy. I'll talk with the doctor." Troy nodded and walked over to where he'd seen them wheel Gabriella in.

"You might want to sit down, Ms. Montez." He heard the doctor say in the backgroud. He was too far gone with the emotion of seeing his beloved Gabriella in a hospital bed. He'd hoped seeing her in a hospital gown for the first time was when they were having their first child. That was shattered as he pulled the chair up to her bed and took her hand into his.

"I think you irritated the doctor." He said. "He was about to tell me something."

"I'm far too selfish. I want you all to myself for right now." She replied with a tired smile. He noticed that. She looked tired. Weak even.

"Just for right now?"

"Until death do us part." She corrected herself.

"You sure you don't want me forever?"

"Of course I want you forever." She said. "It just seems a little unlikely right now."

"If this is about you being in here because you went to the airport on my account, I already feel like you're in here because of me. I shouldn't have acted that way or treated you that way." He rambled.

Gabriella shook her head. "Troy, it has _nothing_ to do with my being in here."

At that moment, Maria entered the room with a handkerchief in her hand. She walked over to Gabriella and gave her a hug. Troy watched the embrace bewildered. What was Maria crying about?

"Does Troy-"

"No, no, he doesn't know yet." Gabriella said on the brink of tears. Gabriella pleaded to her mother with her eyes hoping that Maria would understand. Maria did understand.

"I'm going to call Lucy." She said before walking out of the room.

"Brie, what was-" Troy asked confused.

"Troy, you need to know something." She said resolutely despite the shake in her voice.

"Baby, whatever you tell me. It'll be okay. If something is wrong with you, I want to know."

"I'm not sure you'll say that once you find out." She gave his hand a light squeeze, though it was probably all the strength she had just to do the action. Troy squeezed her hand back giving her reassurance. With that, she began. "Two weeks ago, I was feeling light headed. I didn't think anything of it because for the first few days, it only happened for five minutes at the least. Last week, they started to become more frequent and eventually lead up to dizzy spells and fainting. It happened one day in class, and my professor sent me to the hospital. They tested me for a lot of things, Troy. They tested for diabetes, pregnancy..." She paused, and Troy got a lump in his throat. "And cancer." She said.

She gestured for him to place his other hand into hers. "Troy," He didn't like where this was going. "I have stage 3 leukemia."

"But you can't...you've been...I could've..."

Troy felt his world go in a downward spiral as the words left her mouth. Stage 3 leukemia. It couldn't be. She couldn't have cancer. She was Gabriella. She was his sweet, loving, amazing, genius wife who was his whole world. She was his wife who didn't deserve this. She had so much to live for, yet it seemed like there was so little time left. If there even was any time for that matter.

With that realization, Troy broke down. He cried into the sheets as he held her hand. He felt her left hand rake through his hair to the back of his head as she bent down and cried with him. Of course he cried because of what his wife had just told him, but...these past few months. They'd been arguing. How many hours, minutes, seconds had been wasted arguing when he could've spent every waking moment doting and loving her?

After a few minutes, Troy's cries subsided as he climbed into the bed. He helped her sit up as he pulled the pillow from behind her and situated himself so that he was sitting behind her and she was sitting between his knees. He wrapped his arms around her, and she leaned against him and wrapped her hands around his forearms. There was no way time would be wasted again. He let the feeling of holding her close dull the throb in his heart that had been ever present in the last twelve hours. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I could've...all of those times..." He whispered.

"I understand, Troy."

"But I've wasted so much time. I was arguing with you over stupid reasons. We could've just spent time together...what if..." He trailed off. He didn't want to think about the possibility of her dying. That was just too much. He couldn't handle losing her. However with the circumstances, it was hard for his train of thought to trail towards that possibility.

"Troy, that doesn't matter." She said slightly turning so that she could stroke his face. "All that matters is that you're here. These past few months can't be regained, but we can still live in this moment. You have absolutely no idea what it means to me being able to be here with you right now. Do you know how much I've missed being held by you? A lot."

His hold on her tightened. "I love you." He whispered.

"I love you too." She replied as his head dipped down to hers to meet her lips in a tender kiss.

* * *

The doctor came into the room half an hour later and motioned for Troy to talk with him outside. Maria had returned into the room soon after Gabriella had revealed the news, so Troy was all right with leaving her for a few minutes.

"Mr. Bolton, I was informed that you knew nothing of your wife's condition. Is that correct?"

"Yeah, but I know now. Is there anything, anything that we can do to save her?"

"Well, because she is in stage 3 and not in stage 4, it really depends on how she takes the treatment. If she responds well to chemotherapy and radiation, it's very possible that she can recover from this and go into remission."

"When can we start the treatment?"

"Well, her body has responded positively with the process of bringing her body temperature down. She'll have to go for a surgery to be able to remove as much cancerous cells as possible. Depending on how quickly she recovers, we'll decide from there." He explained. "We can give her the surgery as soon as her temperature goes back to normal body temperature which will probably be in a few hours. We'll prep her first and then continue with the process."

Troy nodded. He noticed a group of people approaching him. He excused himself from the doctor and met his parents, Chad, Jason, Sharpay, and Zeke.

"Hey, Mom, Dad." He hugged her and his dad. "Thanks for coming."

"How is Gabriella, Honey?" His mother asked.

Troy wanted to retaliate that question with, _My wife has cancer, what do you think?_, but he knew his mother was being sincere. "She's sleeping right now. She's all right. I guess. Hey, Shar, Zeke. How are you two doing?" Troy asked.

"Great. I'm starring in the U of A play in a few weeks." Sharpay told him. "You and Gabriella absolutely have to watch it. I'll get you both front row tickets." She said cheerfully.

Troy nodded. "Hey, Jase. How's everything?"

"It's good." Jason said. "A few of my classmates at U of A, and I are going to be making a student film. I'm totally going to have Gabriella and you make some cameos."

"How are you doing?" Chad asked.

Troy turned to Gabriella and replied. "I've been loads better. To tell you the truth I'm scared for her. This isn't something that I can take away from her. I'm scared that I'll lose her. I can't lose her. I regret these past months. I've been arguing with her when I could've been spending every waking moment just being with her." He then went on to explain the process that the doctor had just explained to him.

Chad let out a quick sigh. "Wow. That's a lot to take in. But you know what, Hoops? We're going to be here every step of the way. Tay, Kels, and Ryan too."

Troy gave a small smile. "Thanks, Chad. I know that. The doc said that we're going to have to keep the visits to small groups because of her fever, but you can all go inside eventually. I'll wait out here. Thanks for coming."

* * *

Everyone eventually got their chance to visit with Gabriella. Troy was by her side when everyone had to go home and when she was being prepped for her surgery and when she woke up afterwards. They spent a great deal of time talking about everything and nothing the next day, though Troy did most of the talking since Gabriella was too tired or asleep.

Gabriella was making a nice recovery. Her doctor was very impressed with her progress. The Wildcats made visits often. Gabriella was finally able to go out of her hospital room and was wheeled around in a wheelchair whether it was with Troy, her mother, or their friends. She had all the support in the world.

* * *

Three days later, the doctors allowed Gabriella to get ready to go home. Sharpay was helping her with getting out of her hospital clothes and into some sweats and a shirt. As Sharpay gathered Gabriella's stuff for her, Gabriella sat on the bed watching the TV distastefully.

"Shar? Why are we watching a Disney Channel Movie with Zac Efron?"

"Gabi, don't tell me that you don't enjoy watching Zac Efron." Sharpay teased.

"I don't." Gabriella said defensively. "He's not even cute."

"You keep telling yourself that. It's probably because you think Troy is one the most gorgeous man in the world. But I think that Zac Efron could be compared to Troy." Sharpay said as a matter of factly.

"Efron doesn't even compare to Troy. Troy at least has real blue eyes."

"What are you talking about?! You'd probably die if you saw Zac's eyes in person from how gorgeous they are."

"Too bad it doesn't work on half the female population in the world huh? There'd be a lot less people at the mall for you to be irritated at."

"Oh, ha ha. Very funny." Sharpay replied. "Come on. Troy and Zeke are going to be picking you up in a few minutes. Let's get down to the lobby."

Sharpay helped Gabriella get into her wheelchair. When they opened the door, Gabriella saw rose petals on the floor.

"What's he up to?" She asked.

"Why whatever do you mean, Gabi?" Sharpay asked innocently.

"Okay. Now I know something's up when you start acting that way. I know my husband. He's about to do something, and I want to know what it is." She demanded.

"All in good time." Sharpay assured her.

Sharpay pushed her wheelchair and followed the rose petals. Gabriella saw that they led to one of the family rooms. When they opened the door, she was surprised to see Troy dressed up and standing on a stage with a microphone in hand. Their friends and her and Troy's parents were in the room as well.

All she managed to get out was a "What?"

"I owe you an anniversary present. I know that I haven't been the best husband for the past few months. I've been stupid and selfish and egotistical and acting like how Shar used to act."

"Hey, you never said anything about insulting me!" Sharpay said as she wheeled Gabriella to the front and took her seat. Everyone laughed.

Troy turned to Sharpay. "Right. Sorry. Anyways…" He looked at Gabriella, blue eyes filled with love for the woman in front of him. "You always said that you love it when I sing to you. Well, I've decided to put on a little private concert just for you and our friends of course. This first song I'm sure you remember. How could you forget the night we first met? It was the start of something new."

Music for "The Start of Something New" flowed through the speakers, and Troy started to sing.

_Livin' in my own world; didn't understand_

_That anything can happen, when you take a chance_

_I never believed in what I couldn't see_

_I never opened my heart to all the possibilities_

_I know that something has changed_

_Never felt this way_

_And right here tonight_

_This could be the start of something new_

_It feels so right to be here with you oh_

_And now looking in your eyes I feel in my heart_

_The start of something new_

Everyone clapped when he finished his song. He spoke into the microphone once more and kept his eyes on Gabriella. Her eyes were glazed with tears.

"Well, music has been a big part of our lives ever since we met. I don't have time to sing every one of the songs that could be applied to our lives. Mostly because the nurses only gave me thirty minutes to do this for you." He added teasingly which drew a smile from her. "Anyways, this next song, Kelsi wrote for us. We sang it at the Midsummer's Night Talent Show and ever since then, we've celebrated everyday."

_Once in a lifetime means there's no second chance_

_So I believe that you and me should grab it while we can_

_Make it last forever and never give it back_

_It's our turn, and I'm lovin' where we're at_

_Everyday of our lives wanna find you there _

_Wanna hold on tight_

_Gonna run while we're young_

_And keep the faith_

_Everyday from right now_

_Gonna use our voices and scream out loud_

_Take my hand together we will celebrate_

_Oh, everyday, everyday_

The music stopped, and everyone clapped once more. Troy kept his gaze on Gabriella and noticed that she had wiped some tears away.

"This next song, we made up on the spot. Kels, you would've been proud of us. I don't know how we did it, but I guess it must've been adrenaline or something." He paused and chuckled. "When we sang this, we were so unsure of what the future would hold for us. All that mattered was living in the moment."

_Hm, yeah yeah_

_Can you imagine what would happen_

_If we could have any dream_

_I'd wish this moment was ours to own it_

_And that it would never leave_

_Then I would thank that star that made our wish come true_

_Oh yeah, cuz' he knows that where you are_

_Is where I should be too_

_Right here, right now_

_I'm lookin' at you and my heart loves the view_

_Cuz' you mean everything_

_Right here, I promise you somehow_

_Tomorrow can wait for some other day to be_

_But right now there's you and me_

_You and me_

_But right now there's you and me_

He finished the heart felt song and moved on. Gabriella's tears were slowly starting to stream down her face. She didn't notice everyone file out of the room for the last song.

"This last song, is really special. We also made this up on the spot when first when you taught me how to waltz on the rooftop and second when I went to Stanford to get you, but of course it has no value unless we dance so…"

The music started and Troy started to sing his verse of the song. He set the microphone down and walked off the stage to a very confused Gabriella.

She protested when she realized what he was doing. Despite what people thought, she was still a little afraid of performing in front of anyone. "Troy, what about everyone-"

"Who?"

Gabriella looked around and noticed that everyone left.

_Take my hand, I'll take the lead_

_And every turn will be safe with me_

_Don't be afraid, afraid to fall_

_You know I'll catch you through it all_

_And you can't keep us apart_

_Cuz' my heart is wherever you are_

While he was singing, Troy had swept Gabriella off of her feet and held her bridal style while he swayed and sang. She wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder as she sang the harmony with him softly.

_It's like catching lightning the chances of finding someone like you_

_It's one in a million the chances of feeling the way we do_

_And with every step together, we just keep on getting better_

_So can I have this dance?_

_Can I have this dance?_

_Can I have this dance?_

_Can I have this dance?_

Troy stopped dancing and held her. "Gabriella?" He asked. She was shaking, and he could feel her tears on his shirt. "Sweetheart, are you all right?" He asked with concern.

Gabriella laughed weakly and nodded. "Only a corny, romantic jock turned drama geek would ever do something like this." She teased.

Troy chuckled. "Yeah, but I'm _your_ corny, romantic turned drama geek. We will get through this. and I'm going to be there every step of the way."

Gabriella nodded and pulled back so that she could look into his eyes. "I know. This is the best anniversary present you could've ever given me I love you."

"I love you too." He said before he gently kissed her.

* * *

A/N: Well, I hop that you enjoyed that. In the first version, I finished it with saying that she was all clear, but I decided that this was a better mystery ending. It really leaves the ending up to the reader. Well, that's it. Please read, review, and vote on . Thanks!


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